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By Category: Biotechnology

Harvard professor looks for ‘adventurous woman’ who agrees to give birth to cloned Neanderthal

(RT) Prehistoric men may soon be walking the earth again. One of the world’s leading geneticists is in search of a female volunteer to give birth to a Neanderthal – a species that went extinct more than 33,000 years ago. Using DNA from Neanderthal bones, Harvard Medical School Professor George Church plans to resurrect the Read More »

January 22, 2013
| Filed under North America, Biotechnology, and Research
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New Way to Test Airborne Pathogen Sensors Slated for BioWatch Program

(National Defense Magazine) The test and evaluation community for the past 70 years has used one method to find out whether sensors designed to detect weaponized pathogens work as advertised. It is not a simple task. One can’t walk out into a field and release live anthrax spores into the air. That would obviously endanger Read More »

January 17, 2013
| Filed under North America, Agents & Toxins, Biological Weapons, Biotechnology, Countermeasures, Policy & Initiatives, and Research
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Epigenetics: Promising Field Delivers

(Genetic Engineering News) The fascination with epigenetics stems not only from the profound impact that it has exerted on the biomedical, medical, and social sciences, but also from the somewhat debated and elusive definition of the term itself. It’s shifted multiple times over the years. A key feature of epigenetic changes— their potential heritability—brings new Read More »

January 15, 2013
| Filed under North America, Biotechnology, and Research
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‘Biology is a manufacturing capability’

(New Scientist) How is synthetic biology different from biotechnology? The main difference is the degree of control. Engineers want their inventions to be as predictable and free from complexity as possible. That’s what makes the approach of equipping living things with standardised DNA modules called BioBricks – of which some 15,000 are now available in Read More »

December 14, 2012
| Filed under North America, Biotechnology, and Research
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The ‘cool or creepy’ test

(Washington Post) If you think about some of the most exciting areas of innovation today, whether it’s 3D printing, synthetic biology, artificial intelligence, augmented reality or facial recognition, they all have at least one thing in common: they can be seen as either “cool” and “creepy.” Facial recognition, for example, is “cool” when it helps Read More »